Practice notes - Friday, August 8

Frank Ordoñez/The Post-StandardTight end Ben Maljovec (33) engages in a leverage battle with a defensive player as part of SU football practice on Friday at the Dome

Syracuse, NY -- Heavy rain this morning and threatening skies chased the Orange football team into the Carrier Dome today for the first time since the opening of preseason camp. Today also marked Syracuse's first practice in full pads, which also marked the first appearance of the black-and-white striped crowd (officials).

Syracuse junior receiver Lavar Lobdell of CBA said his tank was empty after Friday's practice. He said he couldn't wait to get home in order to hit the sack early because Saturday marked the first day of double practice sessions.

"They're rough," said Lobdell. "It's just the grind. It's just the grind. We're trying to get better. Every day at practice, Coach Rob, he always stresses to us to empty our tanks. As soon as you think you're tired, he always tells us, you can go a little bit longer and the next day, you'll be better for it. It's another day of the grind. Practice ended at the right moment."

Here is what head coach Greg Robinson said after the team's first day of practice in full pads:

"It was good. I thought we worked," he said. "It's one of those kinda things when things go well for the offense, the defense is ticked off. And when the defense is playing great, the offense is ticked off. I think there was a little bit of both in different periods. We had some good contact ... and that's good."

Robinson said there was situational work such as a short yardage scrimmage. He said there was second-and-long and third-and-long period along with work in the kicking game. Robinson said it was the third day of real contact The previous two days in shells provided some contact opportunities. He said it was the first day of what he called "live" work where players were tackled to the ground.

"Just things to kinda change the routine," Robinson said. "Now is the time to really start really situationalizing the way we go about things. The first four days was a lot of installation. Now we're at a point where we can start really working and honing in on specific things that we're doing."

- No early sprint work today for the first time. I believe I heard Robinson tell the Orange yesterday that if they did them right, he'd suspend operations. He must have kept his word.

- As a prelude to the full-pad practice, Robinson gathered the Orange into a circle where he called upon one offensive player and one defensive player to engage in some type of leverage/sumo wrestling kinda struggle. The two players battled like bears before one was somehow declared a winner. The first time, the offensive players mobbed the hero. The exercise was repeated and the second time, the defensive players celebrated. Finally, a third struggle and another piling on by the offensive victors. That's how practice began.

- A blog reader asked how it is that Lamar Middleton is wearing jersey No. 88 when the school retired tight end John Mackey's jersey last season. The school's explanation is that SU retired Mackey's jersey, but not the number. The only number retired is No. 44.

- I asked Collier after practice why he's not practicing because he looks terrific. He said there is still some soreness in the foot and he wants to be 100 percent before returning. He said he does not want the issue to linger through the season which is why he's trying to get it taken care of now.

- Is this a good thing or scary thing? The two players who started at outside linebacker to open the season a year ago - Vincenzo Giruzzi and Ben Maljovec - have been moved to new positions; Giruzzi to defensive end and Maljovec to tight end. The two players who took their places were freshmen Mike Mele and Parker Cantey. As we all know, there were lots of dues paid while those two guys got experience. As the Orange lined up for practice today, Mele is on the sideline and Cantey migft be a backup. The two players lined up next to middle backer Jake Flaherty as possible first-stringers are Derrell Smith and Chad Battles.

- Loved this little drill with the wide receivers ... they line up 15, 20 yards in front of receivers coach Chris White. Players one by one begin trotting toward White with their hands behind their back. When they get to about 10 yards, White fires a hard pass. Players have to develop quickness and be able to make adjustments. They all did it pretty well.

- It's good to have friends in high places ... and with great spots. Quarterbacks Andrew Robinson, Cam Dantley and Cody Catalina all caught a ride from the Dome back to Manley Field House with equipment manager Kyle Fetterly. They beat their teammates, who rode a bus back to the football facility, by quite a bit (and seemed pleased, too.).

- Here's Greg's evaluation for the first five days of camp:

"There's been nothing that's been like a setback," Robinson said. "I think we're progressing. It's hard ... first of all, when you're not in pads, to really evaluate other than the focus, concentration and effort. Now you start putting in the physical part of the game and now you're looking at fundamentals and really trying to see all that. So, this is the third day, in my mind, where there's contact, real contact. This is the first day that we did anything that was live. We didn't do a lot of plays of it but we had 15 plays of tackling. That's kind of where we've been and we've moved along. I don't think there's been any dramatic moment up to this point. I've seen consistency, for the most part, on both sides of the ball."